The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) announced that the next CONIFA World Cup will take place in the capital of North Macedonia. Skopje will host a total of sixteen teams that will compete from May 30 to June 7. The draw will take place on the island of Jersey, one of the traditional meet-up places of CONIFA members.

The General Secretary of CONIFA, Sascha Duerkop, stated that Skopje was a ‘fantastic city with great facilities’. The tournament is supported by Sportsbet.io, the premier sponsor of the competition.

The previous CONIFA competition took place last year in various places in and around the capital of England. The team of Kárpátalja (aka Carpathian Ruthenia) won the trophy after winning against Northern Cyprus in an intense penalty shootout.

North Macedonia was not the primary choice for the tournament. In fact, the CONIFA Annual General Meeting took place in Krakow, Poland in January 2019 where the members voted Somaliland as the next destination. The 2020 competition was about to become the first CONIFA event to take place outside of Europe.

However, after reviewing the situation, CONIFA officials had to change their decision, mainly because there were logistical difficulties in carrying out the tournament in Somaliland. Instead of that, they selected newly re-named North Macedonia and its capital Skopje to be the next host of the competition.

The qualified teams that will travel to North Macedonia include Somaliland, Western Sahara, Mapuche, the defending champion Kárpátalja, South Ossetia, Darfur, Matabeleland, Kabylia, and Cascadia. However, CONIFA is yet to say whether Somaliland will still be qualified after its hosting privileges were revoked.

What makes this tournament different from its predecessors is that it will take place at Toše Proeski Arena that has a capacity of 36,460 seats. All of the previous competitions were played at stadiums that allowed approximately up to 5,000 attendees. 

In other words, this is a clear sign the tournament is growing in popularity. Although the arena in Skopje may not be filled up to the last seat, it will definitely attract numerous football lovers from North Macedonia and all around the globe.

What Is Actually CONIFA?

Although Conifa World Football Cup 2020 is already being planned, the majority of football lovers don’t know anything about it. If you haven’t heard of CONIFA, that’s fine — the organisation is relatively new and is yet to grow in popularity.

Essentially, CONIFA is a confederation of all those football associations that are not accepted or recognised by FIFA. This includes various minorities, states, stateless people, regions, and more. The tournament takes place every two years, and the one in North Macedonia will officially be the fourth one.

Although the idea is quite interesting, it’s not actually that new. As a matter of fact, a similar tournament existed under the name Viva World Cup and was active from 2006 to 2012 after which it was rebranded as CONIFA World Cup.

Nowadays, CONIFA has members from all over the world, all of which are ready to play some football you won’t hear about in the mainstream media — at least not yet. With more members joining the confederation, CONIFA’s popularity is definitely going to increase in the future, as it contributes to the growth of the popularity of the most popular sport in the world.

Past Results

The first CONIFA tournament officially took place in 2014 in Sapmi. The tournament was invitational, meaning that only the teams that were invited were able to participate. The County of Nice claimed the title, with Ellan Vannin being the runner-up. Arameans Suryoye won the third place, whereas South Ossetia ended up fourth.  

The next tournament took place two years later in Abkhazia. The host team managed to win the first place, winning against Punjab in the finals. Northern Cyprus ended up third, and Padania had to settle for the fourth place.

Finally, the third tournament was hosted by Barawa Football Association, and it took place in London. As already mentioned, Kárpátalja won the trophy, and the team representing Northern Cyprus ended up second. The Padania representative football team ended up third after beating Székely Land.